It's a "delicious" and "healthy" drink that's "great on the rocks." That's what recent ads have been saying about, of all things, New York City tap water. As Bloomberg pushes more people to drink the almost-free beverage that's conveniently piped into everyone's home, many are annoyed with the $700K campaign. On the heels of a new hike in the cost of city tap water, it seems that advertising water is simply wasteful.

Funny how that seems to bother people, yet hopping into the corner deli to grab a bottle of Dasani or Aquafina seems perfectly logical. If the idea of drinking municipal tap water is repellent to you, then don't buy either of these brands -- they are simply filtered city tap water. You can do that at home with a Brita filter, for heaven's sake.

In fact, you don't even need to filter New York tap water. The FDA requires all water to be filtered before it reaches our faucets. On top of that, five cities are exempt from this requirement because the source of water is so fresh, and you guessed it, New York is one of those cities!

But Fiji water is from Fiji, you say. Indeed it is. However, consider how wasteful it is to bottle and ship water. The stuff is so heavy that an eighteen-wheeler full of it can barely move. Furthermore, although water is natural, the plants which bottle it are not exactly eco-friendly. You don't have to be Al Gore for this to bother you just a little bit.

(Thanks, Barbara, for the second link. A great but frustrating article.)